The archive of the late Professor Seung-bog Cho handed over to Uppsala University

Signing by Rector/President Staffan Helmfrid of the agreement with CASS early 1980s. Photos offered by Staffan Helmfrid.

The late Professor Seung-bog Cho introduced oriental studies (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) at Uppsala University in the mid-1950s under the governance of Rector/President Torgny Segerstedt and in Korean and Japanese in Sweden at Stockholm University in the early 1960s researching in East Asian philology for Professors Bernhard Karlgren and Björn Collinder.

Stockholm University delegation with their colleagues Rectors/Presidents from Peking University and Yanbian University. Photos offered by Staffan Helmfrid.

Professor Seung-bog Cho arrived in Sweden after a short stay at the home of Oslo University Rector/President and several years as a researcher and lecturer in philosophy in the US (Minnesota State University) having graduated from Tokyo Imperial University (now University of Tokyo). He was born on March 6, 1922, in the province of Hamkyong Pukto (in today’s North Korea) and was brought up in the part of northern China at that time called Manchuria and since the late 1950s the Autonomous Prefecture of Yanbian, Jilin Province of People's Republic of China.

He was instrumental in negotiating agreements with East-Asian universities for Swedish universities thanks to his network in East Asia some universities or research institutions to mention are the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University and Yanbian University, Seoul National University, and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies apart from his Japanese Alma Mater University of Tokyo.

He came to Sweden as a political refugee protesting the American interference in the Korean War and dedicated his whole life to the unification of the two Koreas, his credo shared by his many prominent fellows, in all spheres of society, politics, culture, religion, and academia all over the world.

Photo of all participants on November 13 by photographer Magnus Hjalmarsson at the Digitalisation Division: Digital Imaging of Uppsala university library. Participants were from left to right in the group photo: Professor in Korean studies, Stockholm University, Sonja Häussler, Associate Professor, head of the special collections division of university library Carolina Rediviva Maria Berggren, Professor Lars Burman, Library Director of Uppsala University Library Carolina Rediviva, First Professor in Korean studies , Professor emeritus Staffan Rosén, Daughter Suk-hi Cho, International Coordinator, Dept. of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University Uppsala and Stockholm University alumni, Son Frédéric Cho, Advisor and consultant on Chinese economy and business, Uppsala and Stockholm University alumni, Associate Professor in Japanology, Bert Edström, Institute for Security and Development Policy (www.isdp.eu), Thomas Fredengren, Deputy Director of Development and acting resource for philanthropic support of Uppsala University, Professor of Korean and East Asian Studies, Department of Cultural Studies and Oriental Languages, Faculty of Humanities, Oslo University Vladimir Tikhonov, Håkan Frycklund, close friend of family Cho

Among the rare documents handed over to Carolina Rediviva can be mentioned correspondence with Elisabeth Tamm at Fogelstad via Andrea Andréen, Professor Joseph Needham, Cambridge University, President and Nobel Peace laureate Kim Dae-Jung, Korean composers Yisang Yun and Eak-tai Ahn. Stockholm University's archive has received the agreements negotiated under Rectors/Presidents of Stockholm University Staffan Helmfrid and Inge Jonsson, two of several presidents of Stockholm University whom Seung-bog Cho worked with from his start at Stockholm University in 1963 up to his retirement in 1989.

Photo of participants signing the University library guest book and looking at some documents from the archive of Professor Seung-bog Cho, photographer Thomas Fredengren.